Bank of America building in Troy sells for $74 million

The Bank of America building at 2600 W. Big Beaver Rd. sold this week for what a source familiar with the deal said was $74 million.

The Bank of America regional headquarters building in Troy sold this week to an unidentified New York City-based real estate group, according to two sources familiar with the deal.

The sale price was $74 million, according to one of those sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about it. That's more than double the $35 million that New York City-based Sovereign Partners LLC paid for the 450,000-square-foot building exactly two years ago.

At $164 per square foot, the sale price is one of the highest paid for an office building in the region in recent memory. Last year, Southfield-based Redico LLC paid $79.5 million for the 150 West Jefferson skyscraper downtown, a deal that amounted to $166 per square foot.

The sale closed Monday, according to the source. More information was not available Friday. A deed has not yet been filed with the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds office and the city of Troy has not yet received a transfer affidavit.

The Grosse Pointe office of CBRE Inc. brokered the deal. The two brokers working on the sale did not respond to emails Thursday night seeking additional details. An email was sent to Sovereign Partners on Thursday afternoon.

In 2007, the building became the first existing building in Michigan to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, gold-level designation from the U.S. Green Building Council, the second-highest designation.

The restrictions placed on employee behavior in the building after it was constructed in 1990 are details of local workplace lore. It was built for Standard Federal, which was then acquired by LaSalle Bank, which was then acquired by Bank of America.

When it opened, employees couldn't bring anything to eat or drink to their workspaces — including bottled water, lunch or coffee — because of fear of crumbs or stains.

It had been dubbed the "Taj Mahal" or "Fort Federal" because of the rules and the big vision for the building by the late Thomas Ricketts, the former president and CEO of Standard Federal. Subsequent bank executives worked to change that vision from a building that was part art museum-part bank office to something more modern.